Friday, March 17, 2006

Nicknames are earned

When we first started referring to Noah as "Jack-Jack" it was more because he looked sort of funny like the cartoon character.

Then, shortly after that, he got mischievous and ornery and we called him Jack-Jack because he was so destructive and never sat still. Once he acted wild, his nick-name had been earned. We could not get out of our habit of calling him that.

Since moving here all the Haitian people call him Noah (long on the NOOOO & short on the ah) so we have gone back to calling him his real name at least half the time.

Today he reminded us again why he is "Jack-Jack." He managed to fall into a four gallon paint bucket that was 3/4 full of paint. Earlier this week he took a paint brush, dipped it in paint and whipped it around to watch the paint fly.

Today he sat down on the big can and fell in. He had on a diaper and a yellow shirt. The paint was green. The only reason he did not have pants on was because an hour earlier he walked up to the pile of wet cement the tile guys were working with and put a big handful on his legs. Just for fun.

He was so drenched in paint that I had to carry him out of the house and down to the garden hose. It created quite a show for all the sixth graders and a few staff members.

The photo is from earlier this week when he insisted on riding in the back of the bumpy truck for a long ride home. The kid needs a helmet and bubblewrap. Please send it soon.

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Who we are...

To Reach Us: Livesayfamily@gmail.com - We live, learn, love, & work and sometimes go slowly crazy in Port au Prince, Haiti. In the 13+ years we've been here, one thing we've learned: God is not made manifest in our ability to "fix" or heal, but in our need to be healed. Recognizing this weakness leaves us in a position of having little to offer. It reveals our own need to be restored to wholeness. We are not fixers of people or countries or things. We are here trying to extend empathy, love and grace to others, the way it has been extended to us.

May God bless us with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships - so that we may live deep within our hearts. May God bless us with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people - so that we may work for justice, freedom, and peace. May God bless us with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war - so that we may reach out our hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy. And may God bless us with enough foolishness to believe that we can make a difference in the world - so that we can do what others claim cannot be done, to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor. Amen. (Franciscan Benediction)

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